if you were here (i'd sing to you)
by abbyli
Summary: A sunset, a sapphire ring, a heart shaped pendant on a cord. Beth and Daryl get married.


**entitled: **if you were here (i'd sing to you)

**summary: **A sunset, a sapphire ring, a heart shaped pendant on a leather cord. Daryl and Beth get married.

**pairing: **beth/daryl

**rating: **t

**disclaimer: **I do not own The Walking dead or it's characters.

**notes: **Okay, so I rewatched 3x15 and saw Glenn and Maggie's 'wedding'. This idea popped into my head and it wouldn't go away. WHEN Beth comes back, I would love to see something like this at the close of season 6 for her and Daryl. Because they deserve so much.

Takes place post season 5 because if the theories and rumors are true, most likely Beth won't reunite with Daryl and her loved ones until the close of season 5.

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Loving someone shouldn't hurt this much.

Loving...losing that someone...that was even worse.

After being forced to leave her behind before they are over run by walkers, he goes back. He couldn't just leave her body there because it wasn't right. He just couldn't do that.

But her body was gone.

Her bloodstained yellow polo and her cast, mangled in the dirt.

He remembers falling to his knees, his grief just overwhelming him. He had never grieved like that before, not even for his brother because - because he had never felt such an overwhelming love and emotion for anyone before her.

Seeing her clothes laying there like that, the cast practically shredded like it had been ripped off by teeth, he felt it. He felt all the horror, all the pain, everything. Everything that he did not, never did want to feel. Ever.

The only thing he had left of her was the knife. Her knife.

He remembers considering it. He remembers the way the knife sliced across his wrist with such precision and the gasp of white hot pain.

The pain was enough for the reality to set in.

Glancing around, he realized that the clothes and cast were laying there, almost like they had been discarded. This was the place that they had had to leave her behind and there was nothing else. No new blood, no remains, no nothing. Walkers weren't that smart. They would eat their dinner right there, they didn't take it home to the wife and kids.

And then it began clicking in his mind.

Rick had found him then, hauling a terrified Carl in his wake. He barely remembered Rick yanking his ass out of there, yelling and calling him every name in the book for the stupid stunt he had pulled and doing whatever he could to stop the bleeding on his wrist.

Daryl almost lost his hand that day.

But he gained back his hope.

* * *

><p>They found her four months later. Looking worse for wear with survivor scars littering her face and a slight wince in every step she took.<p>

But she was alive.

He watched from meters away as she was helped into the arms of her bawling sister and of the others. Eyeing her closely, he could see that she moved herself slowly, almost like she was in pain with every breath she took.

But she was _alive. _

She sees him when she is cradling a squirming Judith her arms. And for that moment, it's just them. Everyone else around them disappears and they are the only two people in the world.

Without a word, she gently hands Judith back to Carl and starts walking towards him. His eyes rake her form and he wants to call out to her, to tell her not to hurt herself because she is still healing but for some damn reason, the words will not leave his lips.

She lets out a joyful cry and then she is his arms.

He holds her, his face buried in her hair. She's here. She's alive. She's right there.

Her nails rake into his back, the pain reminding him that this is real. She breathes loud gasping breaths, and he thinks those are the most beautiful things in the world.

"How?" he gasps into her neck, feeling the way her pulse jumps at his voice.

"Morgan," Beth chokes as he finally lowers her back to the ground, his arms still firmly around her. "He had been followin' Rick, tryin' to catch up with 'im and he found me instead. I was just about t'be walker chow and he saved me."

"I thought ya were," he whispers. "I went back for ya and you weren't there. I thought - oh, I _thought_ ..." The rest of the words die in his throat as he pulls her in once again.

He can feel the rest of the group watching him but he just doesn't give a flying fuck. Beth was alive. She was alive and he wasn't about to let her get out of his sight again.

* * *

><p>They live. Oh, how they live.<p>

Of course, livin' in tents and beating off walkers with a stick isn't much of a life but they are together. They are all together.

For the weeks following that wonderful day, Maggie sticks to Beth like glue. He doesn't hang on her like her sister but he is never too far away. If she is just there, in his line of sight then he is okay. He can handle that. But sometimes, sometimes he will wake up in the morning and for a brief moment, he will think that it was all just a dream. That Beth had died in his arms that horrible autumn day at Grady memorial and they had buried her in the woods.

And then he remembers.

It wasn't a dream. That she was here. She was alive.

So they live.

He lives too.

* * *

><p>As the months pass by, they grow a little bit closer. Maggie lets her within ten feet of her sight before the link finally splits and Beth is her own independent person again, despite all the shit that has happened.<p>

She sees the scar on his wrist. It matches hers.

"What did ya do?" she breathes, gazing up at him with those cornflower blue eyes that he fell for back in the funeral home. When he unsheathes her knife from his hip, she lets out a pained gasp, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "_Why?" _He shrugs a shoulder and mumbles. She pounces on that, a sob cracking her lips. "Don't mumble at me," she snaps, sounding quite a bit like his mother for a brief moment and then sending him back to those last moments that they had spent together before he was sure he had lost her forever.

He sighs, gazing at his knees. Shame covered him like a blanket and for the first time, he wished he could get away from her steely gaze.

"Because I din't see a point," he whispers. "'Cause ya were gone and I thought a fuckin' walker had eaten ya. 'Cause I had seen ya get shot in the head right in front of me and - ya were _gone_."

She hugs him then, so fiercely that he almost falls over. She holds him and she holds him so tight.

This time, he does take her hands as they wrap around him from behind. He takes her hands in his, gripping her fingers in his that he is sure he will break them but neither of them really care.

"It would take a helluva lot more than a bullet in the head t'kill Beth Greene," she breathes in his ear.

And then he smiles.

* * *

><p>He goes on a run and finds a jewelry store.<p>

Yeah, there isn't much a person in the zombie apocalypse can use in a jewelry store but he does spot a ring that catches his eye.

Walking over to the case, he bends his head and gazes at the display. There was only about five pieces of jewelry left in the case, most of taken years ago when the turn first happened and money was still worth something.

The ring has a slim gold band that curves out into four prongs, holding a simple blue stone. A lapis lazuli. Glancing down at the ring, one word skates across his mind.

_Beth. _

Turning his face away, he uses the end of his crossbow to break the glass around the case. It shatters into four large pieces, falling cleanly through the frame. Just as his finger close around the ring, he hears Rick's voice, calling his name.

"Comin'!" he hollers over his shoulder as he quickly pockets the ring and hightails it from the store to find his group.

* * *

><p>They are living in an old state park now. It actually works out perfectly because there are about twenty of them now and with these cabins spread about, some allotment of privacy is allowed.<p>

He has since moved into one cabin with Beth months before. He remembers a few raised eyebrows but he finds that he just doesn't give a fuck. There's no time like the present and it's nobody's damn business but their own.

Beth is not there when he returns from the run. He had seen her near Rick and Michonne's cabin when he came back in, playing with a now toddling Judith out in the yard. He had stopped, watching the two of them for a while because right then, it was the most beautiful sight he had seen.

He goes back into the cabin, closing the door behind him and flopping the bag of supplies down onto the bed.

Sighing, he lowers his own body down onto the bed beside the heavy duffel bag and pulls the ring out of his pocket. Holding it between his two index fingers, he imagines it on Beth's hand. The stone is large and the actual band is probably too big but - but it's right.

"'kay, if anyone caught me doin' this, they'd think I was nuts," he says out loud to the empty room. "But if ya can hear me, Hershel, I hope ya understand." Swallowing, he leans back a bit, the ring still clenched in his hand. "I love Beth. I love her more than I could've ever loved someone and that's sayin' something for a redneck like me. So I hope ya understand. And if you's was here, you woulda give yer blessin'."

God, that sounds so stupid and cheesy.

But it's right.

He rises from the bed, reaching over and grabbing Beth's journal that she keeps on their nightstand. He never reads it, unless she asks him too. He has never had the desire to even take a peek because it's hers. That small book is something that will always be hers and he will not infringe upon that.

Flipping the book open to the back, he tears a blank sheet out and quickly scrawls a note to Beth and leaves the cabin, grabbing his leather jacket before he goes.

* * *

><p>She finds him at the firepit.<p>

The sun is just about to set, giving off a warm and gentle glow to the changing autumn leaves. As the sun dips lower in the sky, one tree begins to look like it is on fire. Beth watches this breathtaking sight for a moment before she goes to join Daryl on the one log nearest to the burned out bonfire pit.

"Why'd ya want t'meet me here?" she asks softly as she takes her seat beside him.

"Privacy," he says softly, his light eyes gazing her way. "Din't want yer sister or Rick wandering in."

Beth raises a brow. "What's that mean, Mr. Dixon?"

Daryl growls before reaching over and pressing a kiss to her hairline. To her scar. His free hand, the one with the grizzled scar across his wrist, takes hers. Their fingers interlock for a moment before he gently loosens them, holding her hand loosely in his. He covers it with his other and Beth gasps softly.

She looks down at her right hand, seeing the ring resting on her third finger. A perfect fit.

She glances up then into Daryl's eyes and finds that the blue stone is the exact same shade of blue as his eyes.

Beth understands, of course. Daryl Dixon is a man of few words. It was always Rick that did all the talking. But right then and there, with the ring on her finger and the way that he is looking at her, he has just said it all.

With her free hand, she reaches for her throat. Cocking her head to the side, she carefully detangles the leather cord, pulling it up and over her head before allowing it to fall to rest on her knees.

Maggie had found her heart pendant after...after she had 'died', holding onto it until they had reunited at the campgrounds. She had given it back to her, saying that she didn't need it anymore because she was back.

Beth still wore the necklace. Her mother had given it to her years ago on that delicate silver chain before the chain finally gave out. Without blinking, she had replaced the chain with a leather cord and continued to wear it. How it had survived for so long, especially being on the run with Daryl for all those weeks.

But a simple scuffle with a police officer had resulted in her losing it and she believed it was gone forever.

It had occurred to her that Daryl must have found it on the ground near her bag after the cop had taken her and it had wound up in Maggie's possession.

She gently untangles her fingers from Daryl's, laying his palm up and out in her lap. She takes the pendant and lets it fall into his palm, softly closing his fingers around it.

Beth didn't have a ring for Daryl and even if she did, she highly doubted he would wear it. But placing the heart pendant in his hand, the pendant that she had worn for so long, she was giving her heart to him.

His eyes are warm as he raises the leather cord up and places it around his own neck. The pendant disappears under his shirt, only the cord showing. He feels the smooth cool metal of the pendant resting against his heart and he knows he will never take it off.

"I do," Beth breathes softly, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, her lips brushing right above one of his scars.

Daryl doesn't say anything back. He doesn't need too. But he kisses her too, first her mouth and then her hairline once again.

_I do too. _

* * *

><p><strong>I have this headcanon that Beth and Daryl would never actually say the words 'I love you' to each other. It's not who they are. <strong>

**They both have scars. And when Beth comes back, she will have a doozy of a scar on her forehead. So they say 'I love you' through those scars. I think that when they say goodbye or hello or whatever, he would kiss the scar on her forehead, the scar that shows she is very much alive while she would kiss his shoulder where that one gnarly scar was that we saw briefly when Merle tore his shirt. Just those simple touches are enough. **

**Anyway, rambling is over. I am making an extended version of this fic called 'in the moment (we're lost and found)'. I'm kind of a Birdy lyrics junky, love her and Lorde's music. More of Beth's journey back to Daryl and their reunion and their lives. Everything that they have deserved. **


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